Legendary rock act Genesis last toured in 2007 and for a long while it appeared there was no chance the group’s core members (Phil Collins, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford) would be able to perform again. Collins suffered from a number of physical issues that took him out of the music world for a long time. However, Phil has gained his voice back and is in the middle of the “Not Dead Yet Tour.” Both Collins and Rutherford had talked about the possibility of a Genesis reunion in recent years and now Banks has said he’s open to the idea.
As Consequence Of Sound points out, Banks was asked about the possibility of a Genesis reunion by Kyle Meredith of Louisville radio station WFPK. Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford “see each other all the time and get on well” according to Banks. CoS’s recap of the interview also includes word the keyboardist recently attended a Phil Collins concert and liked what he heard. “We don’t rule it out. It’d be fun to try,” Banks told Meredith about a potential Genesis reunion. “But Phil’s gotta survive his tour first of all and we’ll see where it goes.”
Consequence of Sound also collected quotes from an interview Collins gave to Prog in 2016 and Rutherford gave to Ultimate Classic Rock in 2017 and both men appeared to have strong feelings for each other and Banks. “What I will say is that I consider what we had was pretty special. That the three of us would come in with nothing — there wasn’t just one or two writers — we’d all three come in with nothing and we’d start playing until something happened. We’d record it and come back to it a few weeks later and from there the songs would develop,” Collins said to Prog. Rutherford told Ultimate Classic Rock, “I came away… with a feeling of what an incredible time we’ve had. How lucky we’ve been. And more importantly, what a great friendship we’ve had. Obviously, all of us, but especially the three of us: myself, him and Tony [Banks]. It was quite a special relationship.”
While CoS and Meredith point out Phil Collins is still not ready to get behind a drum kit, Chester Thompson did play drums for a chunk of each show during the last Genesis tour. As such, it wouldn’t be out of the question for Phil Collins to stick to vocal duties. Check out the Tony Banks interview:
In 2015, when Collins announced his return, he shot down the idea of a reunion with original singer Peter Gabriel. Phil said the following to Rolling Stone about fans who wanted to see a Gabriel-fronted Genesis, “I just don’t understand that, they haven’t thought it through. Pete won’t sing ‘Invisible Touch’ or ‘I Can’t Dance.’ We’d only do material like ‘The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.’ Also, I can’t play drums, so I can’t do what I did. I just want to settle with the bits of me that I can possibly do.” Gabriel did sing a Genesis song for the first time in over 30 years on closing night of his 2016 tour with Sting.
